Spartans’ offense breaks out against Saugus

LYNN – It might have been a loss on Saturday against Coyle-Cassidy, but the St. Mary’s hockey team finally played with the emotion that coach Mark Lee has been looking for.On Monday, the Spartans returned to the ice against a Saugus team coached by former St. Mary’s assistant Chris Connors. And St. Mary’s certainly didn’t miss a beat.George Carey had a hat trick and an assist and Jon Baldwin had six points as the Spartans rolled to an 11-2 win against Saugus.Click here to see a photo gallery from the game.”That’s two games in a row now that we’ve really played with intensity,” Lee said. “And that makes us feel good. I’m happy for the guys. They’ve been working hard, and we’re starting to see the results.”The Spartans (8-5-2) were in command from the start, finishing the night with a 39-15 shots on goal advantage.”We never really got untracked,” Connors said. “And that’s because St. Mary’s wanted it more than us. They are a very skilled, very talented Division 1 team.”St. Mary’s was swarming around Saugus and goaltender Brad Rocheville from the outset and needed a little over five minutes to go on top when Corey Bartlett finished off a James Perkins centering pass for a 1-0 lead.Less than a half-minute later, Carey got the first of his three goals when he scored off a turnover at 6:07 for a 2-0 lead. But the Spartans weren’t done yet as defenseman Cam Kennedy got into the act, blasting a slap shot from the left point past Rocheville to make it 3-0 after one period.The Sachems (5-6-1) tried to gain a foothold early in the second as Carey was called for interference at 51 seconds. And when Kurt Rodrigues jammed home a Matt Fraser rebound to the right of Donald Hesse, it looked like Saugus might make things interesting.But it wound up being just a blip on the screen for the Spartans, who put the pedal down from there.Baldwin took a home-run pass from Bartlett and scored on a breakaway at 2:58 to make it 4-1. Just under four minutes later, Baldwin set up Andrew Bates in front for a 5-1 edge.The Spartans, namely Baldwin, weren’t done yet in the second as the senior took another long pass, this one from Carey, and scored on his second breakaway of the period to make it 6-1, St. Mary’s, after two.Hesse exited in favor of Joe Grabau to start the third for St. Mary’s, which extended the lead to 7-1 when Carey scored on a power play, assisted by Eric Rosengren, at 1:58.Mike Kotowski got Saugus back on the board with 9:28 to go when he converted on a defensive zone turnover. But Carey completed his hat trick less than a minute later to make it 8-2.Perkins scored later before Marblehead natives Mike Maccario and Doyle Somerby racked up their first career goals to close things out.”We had two guys get their first career goals, and that made us all happy,” Lee said. “I am so proud of the guys for playing with that kind of intensity after such a disappointing loss.”